2013 Emergency Alert System hijackings

KRTV

On the afternoon of February 11, 2013, at approximately 2:30 to 2:33 pm MST, an airing of The Steve Wilkos Show on KRTV's channels 1 and 2 was suddenly interrupted by a false local area emergency alert transmitted by KRTV's Emergency Alert System after the system was hijacked via access to the television stations emergency alert equipment. Following the signal interruption, viewers were met with an audible message that read:[14][15][16][17]"'Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages on-screen that will be updated as information becomes available. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies, as they are considered extremely dangerous. I repeat: civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages on-screen that will be updated as information becomes available. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies, as they are considered extremely dangerous. This warning applies to all areas receiving this broadcast. Tune into 920 AM to get updated information in the event that you are separated from your television or if electrical service is interrupted. Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages on-screen that will be updated as information becomes available. This station will now cease transmission, so please use your battery powered radio and tune into 920 AM for further information.'" The Emergency Area Alert warned viewers of "bodies from the dead" in the areas surrounding Powell, Broadwater, Jefferson, and Lewis & Clark counties. Not long after the broadcast was transmitted, local authorities declared the alert as a hoax.[18] The audio was later discovered to have been taken directly from a 2008 YouTube video titled "Zombie Emergency Alert System Warning (EAS)". The first sentence of the audio was also used in an Anthrax song, "Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't."[19]

WBKT-DT, WBUP, WNMU

The second hijacking took place in Marquette, Michigan, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, when the Emergency Alert System for the television stations of WKBT-DT in La Crosse, and WBUP and WNMU in Marquette at approximately 3:55 pm EST, were hacked, interrupting the television broadcasts with the same "zombie apocalypse" alert as before. The signal interruption occurred during WNMU's and WBUP's primetime afternoon broadcasting of Barney & Friends and The Bachelor.[5][20][21]

KENW

The final hijacking took place in Portales, New Mexico, at 5:35 pm MST, when television station KENW's Emergency Alert System was also hijacked, interrupting its television broadcasts with the same false emergency alert as the previous two incidents.[22] No suspects have since been apprehended.[23]

Similar incidents

A similar incident involving the "zombie apocalypse" EAS hijacking took place during a morning talk show broadcast by WIZM-FM in La Crosse, when the hosts of the show, who were reacting with laughter to the hoax, played the audio recording from the alert. However, producers of the show failed to edit out the Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) tones used in the alert, which led to the triggering WKBT-DT's Emergency Alert System. As a result, WKBT-DT's emergency alert equipment relayed the message from the hoax over the stations regular programming.

The FCC has since strongly prohibited the usage of actual or simulated EAS/WEA and SAME tones outside of genuine emergency alerts to protect the integrity of the system and to prevent signal relay incidents such as the events in 2013. Any broadcasters that use the tones outside of a real emergency may be heavily fined or sanctioned.

On February 28, 2017, radio station WZZY, 98.3, in Randolph County, Indiana aired the same "bodies rising from the dead" false alert message from 2013 after their SAGE ENDEC EAS equipment was hijacked.[24] The incident prompted the Randolph County Sheriff's Department to make a public announcement clarifying that WZZY's emergency alert equipment had been hacked and that no emergency was present.[25][26][27]

Government response

A failure to prevent access into emergency alert equipment by broadcasters has been the subject to most of cybersecurity breaches of the Emergency Alert System. As a result, the federal government has made numerous statements to television broadcasters that a neglection to investigate unpatched software vulnerabilities and failure to implement secure passwords for EAS machines will lead to a massive failure in equipment security and a major cybersecurity breach such as the one in 2013.[30]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also stated to television broadcasters of certain vulnerabilities in EAS encoders/decoders that, if not updated, could allow outside sources to gain access to various television station's EAS equipment and broadcast emergency messages over regular programming.[11][31]